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A time of greatness

With each week and another win added to the their records for the season, both Columbia City and Churubusco football are making their way up the records books at their respective schools. Much debate has been brought up about whether this could be the greatest high school football season for Whitley County. As the two Eagle squads head into the sectional championship week the seasons that stack up against 2010 are becoming less and less. In the 88 years Columbia City football has been in existence, no team has done what the Eagles did with a 41-27 win at Angola Friday night. The Eagles return to the sectional championship round for a second consecutive year got them into the double digit win mark for the first time in the program’s history at 10-1. This prompted some more research into the Eagles record books. Dating back to 1922 when the Eagles program has its first official record kept by the Indiana Football Coaches Association (IFCA). Two teams have gone undefeated in that time with both coming before the postseason debuted in 1973. The first came in 1945 where the Eagles from Columbia City Joint High School went 7-0. The 1966 City team followed that up with 9-0 record. The ’66 squad shared the record for most wins in school history until Friday night with Columbia City’s only sectional championship team from 1993 that went 9-3. To show how significant 2010 is in Columbia City’s history, you can go by winning percent as well. With the most possible losses this season being two, the Eagles rank in the top five currently at 91 percent and at worst 83.3 percentage if they finished 10-2. It’s the fewest losses Columbia City has had since the 1990 season where the Eagles won the first of their two Northeast Hoosier Conference titles. Churubusco’s records books aren’t any safer from a potential takeover in 2010. The last time the Eagles of ’Busco went this far into the season with a 10-1 record came in 2005. It’s just the fourth double-digit win season in the 47-year history of Turtletown football. With a win at South Adams in Friday night’s class A sectional championship, the 2010 Eagles could tie for the most wins in school history with 11. It’d be the first time since 2007 when ’Busco made an appearance in the semistate round and the third time since the 1983 state runner-up Eagles first went 11-3. No matter the outcome in the 2010 playoffs, the Eagles will finish their sixth consecutive winning season and third straight with two losses. One spot at the top will belong to Churubusco in 2010 for winning percentage. The worst the Eagles can finish is 83.3 percent, which lands them in a tie for first with the ’05 Eagles. In 98 games as head coach at ’Busco Lee Etzler has jumped his winning percentage to 63 percent.